SOFIA, Bulgaria – A high-level European human rights body on Thursday sharply criticized Bulgaria for the treatment of its prisoners in the country's dilapidated and overcrowded prisons.

In a report, the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee said deliberate physical ill-treatment of detainees was on the rise. It highlighted the "ever-worsening state of dilapidation" of the prisons, and said "endemic corruption" was one of the major problems of Bulgaria's prison system.